Journalists put more than their bodies on the line for their work, but mental health must be prioritised for the survival of the whole industry, experts say.  

Journalism’s unique mixture of deadlines, a 24-hour news cycle and constant exposure to stories ranging from wars to domestic violence create a “cocktail of extreme high stress”, Centre for Journalism and Trauma Asia Pacific (CJT Asia Pacific) director Cait McMahon tells PIJI. 

Toss in some social isolation as more people work from home or are forced into freelancing; being a woman or coming from a diverse background; and the increased pressure to have a visible social media presence opening new avenues of “hate and vitriol”, and she says that cocktail becomes more potent.  

She emphasises journalists tend to be “resilient”, but layers of professional stressors, possibly combined with personal issues, could lead to burnout or PTSD. 

These diagnoses aren’t necessarily the end of the line for journalists, as she says many “function really well” while managing issues such as PTSD. 

But if these issues are allowed to become rampant, it’s not just the journalist and their loved ones that will take the hit – news organisations will be affected as well. 

“Unaddressed mental health issues [are] a business issue, because it means you get people taking sick days, you get stories that are not finished, or stories that are not picked up, or self-censorship,” McMahon says. 

“Mentally healthy journalists equals healthy journalism.” 

Occupational mental health of journalists is also an “integral” press freedom issue, Global Center for Journalism & Trauma executive director Bruce Shapiro tells PIJI. 

“A journalist who is sidelined by burnout, or a journalist who is unable to meet a deadline or otherwise get their work done because of PTSD, is effectively censored,” he says. 

Duty of care to all news workers 

Research suggests between 86 to 100 per cent of journalists are exposed to potentially traumatic work‐related events over the course of their careers, such as automobile accidents, fires, murder and mass casualties.  

Rates of PTSD among journalists range from 4 to 59 per cent, depending on the beats they cover and location of the journalists studied. A 2025 Muck Rack survey of 400 journalists found half had considered quitting their job because of exhaustion or burnout. 

Despite the apparent mental health risks, more than 60 per cent of survey respondents said they were not offered mental health service through their company. 

With the quality and freedom of journalism at stake, Shapiro says small and large news organisations have a duty of care to everyone employed in the news business, whether they are behind a desk or in the field. 

“That means … making sure that managers are trained in the mental health impacts of reporting and trauma-aware management practices, making sure that collegial support strategies are in place, and that mental health referral resources, therapists, etcetera, are available when needed,” he says. 

“Not everybody needs a therapist, but [therapists] need to be there.” 

He says this duty of care should also extend to freelancers and other contract employees, whose work the industry is increasingly depending on. 

Culturally, Shapiro says the topic of mental health has become less stigmatised, a change he finds has been largely driven by the younger generation of journalists. 

“I find this around the world: reporters, editors in their twenties who simply are accustomed to talking about mental health,” he says. 

“It’s just part of their generational culture to be thinking about these issues, and in some cases, to be putting more demands on their employers for duty of care.” 

He credits Australia as having been at the forefront of some of the industry’s efforts towards increased awareness and support of mental health, citing events such as a landmark 2019 ruling which found The Age responsible for a crime reporter’s PTSD. 

Shapiro, who is also a US correspondent for the ABC, says the national broadcaster’s peer support program “pioneered” peer support networks for journalists exposed to trauma.  

But McMahon says the last couple decades of progress may be stalling as organisations pull back funding amidst industry-wide financial pressures. 

Cutting funding now could cost more in the future 

McMahon has spent almost 30 years working to address mental health in journalism.  

While working as an in-house counsellor for The Age in the 1980s, she realised journalists’ needs for specialised care were sometimes going unmet. 

She later helped develop the ABC’s peer support program in the 2000s while working with the Dart Centre Asia Pacific, later renamed CJT Asia Pacific. 

McMahon says much of the funding towards mental health, resilience and trauma exposure from those early years seems to have “really dropped”, even under large mainstream news organisations. 

“There’s just not the financial resources now, and so organisations are sort of saying, ‘Oh well, it’s core business only that we’re going to be doing training on,’” McMahon says. 

“The organisations that are still engaged with [the CJT Asia Pacific] are … really trying hard to look at this issue and do support right, but those numbers of the organisations that are doing that have dropped off.” 

She says organisations need to understand that supporting the mental health of journalists will ultimately benefit the business with better reporting and less staff turnover. 

“The research shows us that if the organisation really supports people properly, they’ll be able to withstand a lot of those stresses.” 

‘Olympic athlete’ approach to self-care 

Issues such as burnout and PTSD are not inevitable outcomes for journalists, especially when the right supports are in place, Shapiro says. 

The responsibility of preventative measures and support is not solely on news organisations; he says journalists owe it to themselves, as well as the people they are reporting on and for, to practice self-care. 

“We need to think about ourselves almost the way Olympic athletes think of themselves, as needing to be bolstering our self-care in the face of trauma-drenched reporting [and] threatened abuse and harassment,” he says. 

Having colleagues to lean on is crucial, as Shapiro says social isolation is one of the biggest risk factors for burnout and PTSD.  

He also points to mindful exercise and breathing as simple self-care measures, while doing meaningful work that adheres to professional ethics – avoiding “moral injury” – are also important “resilience factors”. 

“The psychological wellbeing of journalists and the mission, the ethics, and the craft actually play together in very important ways,” Shapiro says. 

“We want journalists resilient to do the job that democracy requires, and at the same time, the best values of journalism can reinforce journalists’ resilience.” 

– Sezen Bakan